Nettie Sanford Chapin

Nettie Sanford Chapin (, Skiff; after first marriage, Sanford; after second marriage, Chapin; pseudonym, E. N. Chapin; March 28, 1830 – August 20, 1901) was a 19th-century American teacher, historian, author, newspaper publisher, suffragist, and activist. Chapin wrote mostly prose. She also wrote on Iowa history, and published several small books herself. While residing at Washington, D.C., for several winters, she wrote concerning society and fashionable Washington circles. In 1875, she began the publication of The Ladies Bureau, the first newspaper published west of Chicago by a woman. Chapin served as chair of the National Committee of the National Equal Rights Party.

Early life and education Henrietta Maria (nickname, "Nettie") Skiff was born in Portage County, Ohio, March 28, 1830. Her parents were Stephen Skiff and Lucy Bierce Skiff. Stephen's parents were Jeremiah Skiff (b. 1770) and Esther Ayres Skiff (1770–1841). Chapin's siblings included Esther, Dimmis, Henry, Orin, and Nancy. Chapin came to Iowa with her father's family in August 1856, and settled in Malaka Township, Jasper County, Iowa, the township being named by Chapin and her father. and was afterwards changed in name to The Woman's Kingdom. to the Davenport Gazette, The Des Moines Register, Sioux City Journal, and Marshalltown Times. Chapin died at Marshalltown, Iowa, August 20, 1901, due to valvular heart disease, and was buried at Riverside Cemetery in that city. Her obituary in the Evening Times Republican stated: "Probably no other Marshalltown woman attained such prominence as did she in her prime and some of her literary ventures, particularly those of a historical nature and referring to pioneer days in Iowa, will live forever."

Selected works Books Central Iowa farms and herds, by Nettie Sanford, 1873, Newton, Iowa) Pioneer Life in Iowa: Early Sketches of Polk County, from 1842 to 1860 by Mrs. Nettie Sanford, 1874, Newton, Iowa, Charles A. Clark. American Court Gossip: Or, Life at the National Capitol, by Mrs. E. N. Chapin, 1887) Iowa Cranks; or, The beauties of prohibition, a political novel, by E. N. Chapin (using her husband's name as a pseudonym), 1890

Pamphlets "History of Jasper County", 1874 "The History of Polk County"